THE sister of a Habberley pensioner has made an impassioned appeal for people to be more considerate when letting off fireworks after an impromptu display sent her sister into a diabetic shock, which she claims could have killed her.

Claire Evans was staying with her diabetic relative on Saturday when the horrifying ordeal occurred.

The pensioner's blood count had been normal all day until fireworks started to be let off in Low Habberley at about 9pm.

Fearing the rockets might land on the roof of her house, which had happened before, the 75-year-old went outside to see what was happening - and slipped into a potentially fatal state of shock afterwards.

Now, as a Government Bill is going through Parliament on the use of fireworks, Mrs Evans is appealing for people to notify their neighbours before letting them off.

"I am just so thankful I was there because I very rarely go and stay with her on a bank holiday - had I not been there, she might well have died," she said.

"People have said to me why didn't she stay indoors but we didn't know what was going to happen. Her diabetic condition had been absolutely fine, only two hours before the fireworks started we had done a blood count and were delighted with it."

She said the first sign of a problem had been when her sister returned indoors, not talking.

"I tried to get her to bed but, by the time we got to the bedroom door, her brain had just gone," she said. "I couldn't get her to understand anything.

"I got her to sit down and thought I've got to get a sweet drink into her. I rushed off and got her a chocolate drink and some glucose tablets and, by some miracle, she was able to swallow."

She added: "After about 20 minutes, she was able to recognise me and gradually got better. When she came round we were able to take a blood count and it was almost off the scale."